1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for cleaning the magnetic head(s) in flexible disk systems. With flexible disk drives, as with other pieces of data processing equipment, preventive care and periodic maintenance are necessary to insure efficient, smooth and error free operation. Unlike other peripheral devices, the magnetic heads on flexible disk drives are extremely difficult to access without partially disassembling the drive system. Due to this difficulty, head cleaning is generally done only when read/write problems are being experienced.
2. Prior Art
Several systems have been developed in an attempt to provide a convenient means of cleaning the head(s) on flexible disk systems. One such system utilizes two flexible disk jackets. One of the jackets contains an abrasive lapping material, and the other contains a cleaning cloth material. The first jacket is inserted into the flexible disk system and run through the machine for a predetermined amount of time (generally no longer than ten seconds in order to avoid damage to the magnetic head from the abrasive material) so as to loosen debris from the head. The second jacket is then run through the machine so as to pick up the loosened debris. The flexible disk jackets which are used contain standard size openings (i.e. thin radial slots) in order to allow the heads and pressure pad to contact the cleaning material.
A second system, described in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol. 20, No. 8, January 1978, utilizes a standard flexible disk jacket and substitutes an abrasive disk for the normal magnetic disk. The abrasive disk is coated with either chromic oxide (CR.sub.2 O.sub.3 having a diameter of less than 0.7 microns or aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 of the same diameter. The assembly is used to initially lap the magnetic heads of flexible disk drives and subsequently remove contaminant build-up on the head(s).
A third system for cleaning magnetic heads is diclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,798 issued to Sugisaki et al., on Dec. 27, 1977. This system includes a laminated disk which has a flexible non-magnetic support (e.g., polyvinyl chloride) coated with a magnetic layer on one side and a fibrous cleaning material on the other side. The cleaning disk is located within a cartridge which contains a lubricating layer facing the magnetic layer of the cleaning disk, and includes a normal radial slit which allows the magnetic head to contact the fibrous cleaning material.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a system for cleaning the magnetic head(s) of flexible disk drive machines without the need for any disassembly of the machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a head cleaning system which is substantially non-abrasive and will therefore not harm the magnetic heads in any way.
It is another object of the invention to provide a head cleaning system which permits the use of a liquid cleaning solution.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a head cleaning system which may be left engaged in a disk drive machine for long periods of time without damage to the magnetic heads.